Chinese Culture University Grass Mountain Student Movement

Source: The Brief Autonomous Academy: Recalling the Little Grass of That Year
From: NTU Awareness Report
Date: September 14, 2008. Author: Li Wen

In 1994, Ch’in Cheng-te formed the group “Art Fascism” at Chinese Culture University to satirise the Fine Arts Department’s suppression of student speech, and was subsequently expelled. Other “Art Fascism” members, finding themselves in a precarious position, began seeking outside support, contacting the Fine Arts Department Student Association and the university’s underground student-movement organisation, “Grass Mountain Association” (members from “legitimate” clubs including the Contemporary Thought Society, Environment Society, Taiwan Studies Society, and Student Parliament). The struggle thus began, launching protest actions and a class boycott lasting over a month. Ch’in was ultimately reinstated, while the Fine Arts Department head was suspended.

During the boycott, students self-organised the “Little Grass Art Academy,” inviting artists, teachers, and alumni from outside the school to hold alternative lectures in the university plaza. This brief academy added another dimension of significance to the incident.

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External Links

• The Death of the Old [Male] Student Movement, the Departure of the New [Female] Student Movement (Ch’en Kuang-hsing)
• Chronicle of the “Chinese Culture University Fine Arts Department Incident” (Shadow of Legend Blog)
• Storm on Grass Mountain — Research on the Chinese Culture University Fine Arts Department Incident (Part One) (Shadow of Legend Blog)
• A Story Spanning Generations: Research on the History of Taiwan’s Student Movements (1920–1994) (NTNU Graduate Institute of Education)